Actress Joanna Lumley and son Jamie, photographer, on a letter that went astray, and glamourous bus-pass years

Joanna, 65

I was only 21 when I had Jamie, but it was the best thing that ever could have
happened to me. Suddenly there was this vulnerable little person in my life
and he needed all my love and attention. I wasn’t married to his father,
Michael [Claydon], and I’d no intention of marrying him just for the sake of
it. But I’d come from a loving family who were right behind me. They were my
rocks of Gibraltar from the word go.

Jamie was only 4lb something when he was born and it was six weeks before I
could bring him home, The two of us then went straight to my parents’ house
in Kent. Before Jamie, I’d been working as a model and it was good money.
So, knowing he was in safe hands, I got back into it quite quickly. I
remember my doctor giving me